Book Fair Reflects Cultural Maturity, Says Madani
Ali Al-Zahrani & Naif Al-Shehri, Arab NewsRIYADH, 1 March 2007 — Minister of Culture and Information Iyad Madani inaugurated the Riyadh International Book Fair 2007 Tuesday evening. The 10-day event features over 200,000 books and hundreds of publishing houses from the Arab world.
The inaugural ceremony was attended by Prince Turki ibn Sultan, assistant minister of information, OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, representatives of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and many foreign dignitaries.
“The organization of this event is just an example of cultural development the Kingdom has witnessed,†said Madani. “In the past, the Saudi book was received with amazement due to its limited circulation,†he said….
The opening of the Riyadh Book Fair has gone off quietly. Last year’s fair—though not the opening—was disrupted by religious and social conservatives who shouted down a member of the Shoura Council who had tried to raise the issue of women’s driving during a Council session. Let’s see what happens during the rest of the fair.
It is noteworthy, though, that many books that had been kept out of the country through censorship are actually on sale at the fair.
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March:07:2007 - 07:19
[...] NeeArt posted (in Arabic) her take on the situation of the recently-abandoned Saudi blogs, mentioned in last week’s roundup. She thinks that the bloggers’ decisions have more to do with increasing tensions, divisions among Saudi bloggers, and hearsay than governmental or political reasons; it’s a very interesting perspective. Raed Al-Saeed has posted a humble letter to Dr. Ghazi Abdul Rahman Algosaibi, the Saudi Minister of Labor. His letter mainly addresses the issue of Saudization in the job market. His solution is to place Saudis and non-Saudis seeking employment in similiar conditions, instead of forcing policy. Numerous bloggers have reported on the 2007 Riyadh International Book Fair. Before the actual date of the fair, Saudi Jeans (a.k.a. Ahmed Al-Omran) hoped “it would be a good assortment of brain food” and an opportunity to meet some bloggers. He also posted a list of the events he was planning on attending. As soon as the fair was inaugurated on March 1, Crossroads Arabia posted an article saying that the fair got off to a quiet start: The opening of the Riyadh Book Fair has gone off quietly. Last year’s fair—though not the opening—was disrupted by religious and social conservatives who shouted down a member of the Shoura Council who had tried to raise the issue of women’s driving during a Council session. Let’s see what happens during the rest of the fair. [...]